COUNTY OF WELLINGTON- County of Wellington council has approved a motion to direct staff to research how to accurately acknowledge Indigenous land before council meetings and events.
Ward 7 councillor Don McKay, who brought forward the land acknowledgement motion, became passionate about this issue from sitting on the board for the Ontario Association for Children’s Aid Society where he learned about the organization's dark history when it came to the treatment of Indigenous children.
“With the reconciliation, one of the things that was really recognized was how children’s aids societies dealt with Indigenous children and families,” McKay said, using residential schools and the 60s scoop as examples. “That was not right, that was wrong.”
McKay participated in a blanket ceremony, where blankets are laid on the ground as a symbol for traditional land. The blankets are then folded and moved representing land lost or moved from treaties and reserves. Participants play the part of Indigenous people and are asked to step off the blankets to show the effect of war and disease on their population.
“To me it really brought home how we need to become more knowledgeable, more understanding and to work with the Indigenous people to come to some reconciliation,” McKay said.
Other municipalities have included land acknowledgements in their meetings and events, including the City of Guelph since 2016.
Warden Kelly Linton said he thinks preoccupation with county issues such as housing and social services is why this hasn’t been brought forward sooner.
“I think it probably hasn’t come up before because we kind of have our plates full with stuff,” Linton said. “Members of council do want staff to take a look at this to make sure that we’re doing it right. So I think it’s better late than never.”
Councillors were supportive of the measure but there were concerns raised about it coming off as a token gesture. Accurately identifying the various groups who have traditional land in Wellington County is part of this effort.
“The County of Wellington is a pretty big land area, we just want to make sure we’re paying homage to everybody that we should be,” Linton said.
Linton stressed the county’s need for staff input to maintain their best practices.
“That’s the way we do things in the county, this is no exception,” Linton said. “We want to make sure if we move ahead with something like this we do it right and it’s not just a token and it means something.”
McKay said society can not go back and change history but we can make small efforts towards reconciliation.
“I think having a land acknowledgement is a start,” he said. “I want it to be something that we then learn more, become more knowledgeable and more understanding.”
Staff will report back to council on the matter in June.
